COVID-19 Impacts on Child Care Providers and Families
Higher Costs, Lower Enrollment Threaten Availability
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed—and exacerbated—challenges affecting our nation’s child care system. Many child care operators have struggled financially as they deal with shut downs, lower enrollments and increased costs. Parents continue to grapple with finding child care solutions for younger children and school-aged children enrolled in virtual or hybrid learning. In this report, SREB explores issues of affordability and access, examines the difficulties child care centers face amid a pandemic and recommends actions states can take to provide relief to parents and providers.